The centrality of teachers’ judgement practice in assessment: a study of standards in moderation

There is a strong quest in several countries including Australia for greater national consistency in education and intensifying interest in standards for reporting. Given this, it is important to make explicit the intended and unintended consequences of assessment reform strategies and the pressures to pervert and conform. In a policy context that values standardisation, the great danger is that the technical, rationalist approaches that generalise and make superficial assessment practices, will emerge. In this article, the authors contend that the centrality and complexity of teacher judgement practice in such a policy context need to be understood. To this end, we discuss and analyse recorded talk in teacher moderation meetings showing the processes that teachers use as they work with stated standards to award grades (A to E). We show how they move to and fro between (1) supplied textual artefacts, including stated standards and samples of student responses, (2) tacit knowledge of different types, drawing into the moderation, and (3) social processes of dialogue and negotiation. While the stated standards play a part in judgement processes, in and of themselves they are shown to be insufficient to account for how the teachers ascribe value and award a grade to student work in moderation. At issue is the nature of judgement as cognitive and social practice in moderation and the legitimacy (or otherwise) of the mix of factors that shape how judgement occurs.     

Building a Community of Transformation and a Social Network Analysis of the POGIL Project

Communities of transformation work to achieve deep, transformational change in higher education teaching practice. This case study of The POGIL Project follows the development of a community of transformation principally focused on the propagation of effective teaching in STEM. We describe the origin of the community, elucidate the emergent decisions that shaped its growth, and offer a social network analysis of the connections between change agents that have been deeply engaged in the growth and development of the POGIL community. The case provides concrete examples of how the features of a community of transformation, most particularly the community network, can be intentionally fostered. We discuss the implications for STEM education reform in light of the case analysis.     

The relationship between torque and joint angle during knee extension in boys and men

The length-tension relationship of muscle contraction is well documented in adults. However, research on this relationship in children has been limited. The aim of this study was to compare differences in the torque-joint angle relationship of the quadriceps muscle in children and adults. Eight boys aged 8-10 years and eight men aged 20-26 years performed two maximal voluntary isometric contractions at six knee joint angles (20°, 40°, 60°, 80°, 90°, 100°). The mean of the two trials was used as the performance measure. Both groups demonstrated an expected increase in relative torque as the joint angle increased (P ? 0.05). The men produced significantly greater relative torque at 20°, 40° and 60° knee flexion (P ? 0.05). The percentage of maximal torque at these angles for the men and boys respectively were: 35.2 - 4.3 vs 15.2 - 12%, 63.6 - 9.1 vs 51.8 - 16.8% and 93.6 - 6.5 vs 84.4 - 14.4%. There were no group differences at 80° or 90°. Peak torque was attained at 80° in men, but decreased significantly (P ? 0.05) at 90° and 100°. For boys, peak torque was attained at joint angles of 80° and 90°. The reduction in peak torque at 100° was not statistically significant, but the relative torque at this angle was lower in men than in boys (77.9 - 13.7 vs 87.1 - 10.4%; P ? 0.05). In conclusion, the relationship between torque and joint angle appears to be affected by age.     

Developing the adult independent learner: Information literacy and the remote external student

This paper analyses current opinion on the development of information literacy skills amongst adult students at tertiary institutions. It looks at the rapid changes taking place in tertiary education and in the development of lifelong learning opportunities for adults. It examines closely the concept of the adult independent learner and how information literacy contributes to this concept. It also examines the plight of there mote external students and hownew communications technologies could be used to improve their levels of information literacy.     

Toy safety and selection

Toys can be used to promote children's cognitive, physical, motor, language, social, and emotional development. Safety and developmental appropriateness are of the utmost importance when selecting children's toys. Parents and teachers and other helping professionals need to teach children the safe use of toys to prevent toy-related accidents. Obtain additional information regarding toy safety by calling the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission at 1(800)638-CPSC.     

Reshaping the Nordic education model in an era of efficiency. Changes in the comprehensive school project in Denmark,Norway, and Sweden since the millennium

The Nordic Education Model was an important part of the social democratic welfare state for many years in the second half of the 20th century. Since the millennium, transnational agencies have drawn education from the realm of politics into a global market place by advocating strategies such as efficiency, competition, decentralisation, governing by detailed objectives, control, privatisation, and profile schools. This article gives brief accounts of major trends in current school development policies, discourses, and practices in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden since the millennium, and explores how the values of the Nordic model are affected by the new policies. It is argued that the Nordic model still exists as the predominant system for the large majority of Scandinavian children at a national level, but that a number of new technologies aiming to increase the efficiency of teaching and learning are gradually undermining the main values of the Nordic model.     

The use of virtual reality simulation to improve technical skill in the undergraduate medical imaging student

In recent years, simulation has increasingly underpinned the acquisition of pre-clinical skills by undergraduate medical imaging (diagnostic radiography) students. This project aimed to evaluate the impact of an innovative virtual reality (VR) learning environment on the development of technical proficiency by students. The study assessed the technical skills of first year medical imaging students. The learning experience by each student was either via traditional laboratory-based simulation or VR simulation, for two specified anatomical protocols. Following the learning experience, the students performed role-plays and were assessed on their technical proficiency. The type of learning environment, laboratory-based or VR simulation, was recorded for each radiographic procedure, as well as demographic data. Data demonstrated an improved total role-play skill score for those students trained using VR software simulation compared with the total role-play skills score traditional laboratory simulation. Demographic multivariable analysis demonstrated no statistically significant association of age, gender, gaming skills/activity with the outcome. The novel medical imaging VR simulation learning tool facilitated technical skill acquisition, equal to, or slightly better than traditional laboratory training. Ongoing data collection will evaluate the impact this VR software has on the undergraduate medical imaging student.

Abbreviations: QUT: queensland university of technology; VR: virtual reality; SLE: simulated learning environment; PA: posterio-anterior; DP: dorsi-plantar; CP: central point; CR: central ray; SID: source image distance; HWA: health workforce Australia     

Experiences of instructors in online learning environments: Identifying and regulating emotions

In an effort to expand existing research on the barriers of instructors experience in online learning environments (OLEs), a qualitative study was conducted at a large mid-Atlantic university. Six instructors teaching in different OLE formats (e.g., asynchronous, hybrid, and synchronous via videoconferencing) participated in two focus groups in order to explore their emotional experiences and ways to regulate the emotions when teaching in OLEs. The overarching themes included emotions of feeling (a) restricted, (b) stressed, (c) devalued, (d) validated, and (e) rejuvenated. The article also provides practical strategies on how participating instructors attempted to manage the challenging emotions. A consensus among all participants is that continuous dialog in a community of practice about strategies to enhance OLEs is imperative.     

Action research: A situated perspective

Rigoberta Menchú has become an icon for the struggles of oppressed peoples for justice and self-determination. For many academics and activists around the world, the accusations of lying made against Ms. Menchú by David Stoll brought into sharp focus the politics of "truthmaking" and the absolutist categories of fact and fiction. In this attempt to discredit Ms. Menchú, and through her, the Mayan experience of genocide by the Guatemalan military and its U.S. sponsors, important questions have been raised about how and when Third World women can speak, the conditions under which they will be heard, and the strategies used to silence them. In this paper, the author draws upon some of the lessons of the Rigoberta Menchú case to examine the politics of truth making in Canada in a recent controversy regarding a speech she made criticizing American foreign policy and urging the women's movement to mobilize against America's War on Terrorism. The highly personalized nature of the attacks on the author by political and media elites sought to accomplish a closing down of public space for informed debate about the realities of U.S. foreign policy and to silence dissent. Repeatedly emphasizing her status as an immigrant outsider, this controversy also contributed to the (ongoing) racialization of people of color as a treacherous "enemy" within the nation's geographical borders, against whom "Canadians" had to be mobilized.